Shiba Tatsuya
__FORCETOC__ Shiba Tatsuya (司波 達也) is the main protagonist of The Irregular in Magic High School. He enrolled at the National Magic University Affiliated First High School in April AD2095 with his younger sister, Miyuki (深雪). He was accepted as one of the students to be placed in the Course 2 curriculum, marking the start of the series' events. In his second year, he transferred into the newly made Magic Engineering Course. He becomes Miyuki's fiancé and Yotsuba Maya announced that his son therefore is restored his title as a member of the clan Yotsuba in the winter of AD2096. Appearance and Personality Tatsuya is 172.9 cm tall when he enters First High School (178.8 cm by the Nine Schools Competition in Volume 3), well-built and often described as mundane-looking compared to other characters in the series. He's also described through other characters' impressions as serious and competent-looking. He is usually expressionless and very rarely does he get surprised or enthusiastic, and whenever he does, however, it's often at the minimum level. In the anime, he has dark hair that reaches his clear blue eyes in several unevenly cut bangs — he shares only his eye color with his sister Miyuki. Her hair color is actually a shade too dark to match his, and her skin is too pale to be a match for his. Tatsuya is normally wearing his green, white, and black school uniform, lacking the eight-petaled flower emblem on his blazer during his first year. At home, he generally wears a nondescript black shirt and pants. Tatsuya is intelligent and analytical. His emotions are merely skewed in a certain direction, with one particular half becoming especially sensitive. Thanks to this, he can easily and quickly categorize people into two distinctive groups: hostile and non-hostile (while normal people would see 3 types: hostile, neutral and friendly. They would have a hard time to know who is a friend and who is an enemy since they aren't sensitive). This certainly comes in handy for his military and political life and anything related to conflicts (which is almost everything in life). He doesn't possess the ability to hate nor could he feel any strong emotions like fury, fear, despair, envy, hatred, disgust, gluttony, lust, sloth, and love. The only aspect in him that is perfectly natural — the only emotion that remains — is his love for his sister. Because of this, he tends to either spoil her too much, or be overprotective and completely ruthless when there are threats towards Miyuki's safety. For him, his world revolves around Miyuki and he loves her dearly. In the eyes of their friends, Tatsuya exhibits blatant favoritism towards his sister, and hence is called a siscon Someone with a sister complex. Contrary to his own belief, Tatsuya has a faint degree of emotions and can be kind and caring towards his friends, though he is often irritated by some of them as well. While he cannot feel lust, he can still feel aroused by the actions of certain women (e.g. Mari, Mayumi, and Miyuki). He also acknowledges the charms of females, including his sister, throughout the series. He also worries about his reputation and has some sense of pride though he doesn't seek to attract attention. Due to being treated as a fake magician, he underestimates the merits of his own magic abilities and constantly looks down on himself, having difficulty accepting praise and grasping the meaning beneath indirect words of flirting. He has a bit of an inferiority complex, especially about ordinary things that others own or can handle well. He also has what his friends call an 'unexpected flaw', for being quite slow in fathoming others' goodwill or attraction towards him as he, as explained by Miyuki's point of view, can only interpret them by logical explanation and often questions why people would think positively of himself. In a nutshell, his lack of understanding and experiences in emotions except for his sister, caused lots of misunderstanding in his interaction with others. Because Tatsuya has no memories of other feelings since childhood, he does not know how to respond to people when they are conveying their emotions to him, praising him for his personality, or so forth. This leads to him feeling awkward, astonished, or clueless on how to properly reply. Usually, he can deal with the praises expressed due to tangible achievements, but when it comes to anything regarding him personally, he suffers from inner turmoil of how to respond and may ignore the matter if he has the chance. Background Tatsuya is the eldest son of Shiba Tatsurou and Shiba Miya. He is eleven months older than his younger and only sibling Miyuki (his birthday falls on April 24th). They are often mistaken as twins for being in the same year. Prior to the timeline at the beginning of the series, their father remarried six months after their mother's death, and the two of them are living alone in a house, which is described as a place that vastly exceeds the average size. Since he was young, one of the only things in which he shows enthusiasm-like qualities, is in Magic Engineering and CAD developments. He has an aptitude for them and has continually displayed his interest until now, as he is aided by the circumstances. Their house has a basement with the same floor layout as the floor above, redecorated as Tatsuya's lab equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and plentiful area for where new types of magic created by Tatsuya are tested, and for research or other purposes. Yotsuba Tatsuya is a child born from the Yotsuba family. From birth he was the apparent heir for the Yotsuba family. After the birth of his sister Miyuki, and the discovery of his lack of ability to wield magic as it was intended; he became Miyuki's Guardian. Although this is the case, he wasn't accepted as a legitimate member due to the fact that he cannot wield magic. The two types of magic he can freely wield are not considered magic by the family's standards due to its nature of only 'destroying' and 'restoring' information, not 'altering' them. At the present timeline, besides his two natural magics, he was only able to use imitation and theoretical magic, something which could be owed to his other unique abilities and superior intellect. Despite this deficiency, he has taken advantage of his physical prowess and his superpowers to become Miyuki's Guardian, which is considered to be a job of the highest importance in the Yotsuba clan. His combat prowess has also become respected enough that he is now a primary combatant of the Yotsuba clan. In Volume 16, it was revealed that the Yotsuba originally celebrated his birth, Maya in particular when she learned about Tatsuya's magic. Due to the Material Burst, soon after his birth, most of the Yotsuba wished to kill Tatsuya out of fear that he would destroy the world. In order to prevent this, Tatsuya became Miyuki's Guardian, so as to give him an attachment so he wouldn't become a person who would relentlessly destroy the world. When Maya announced Tatsuya and Miyuki's engagement, Tatsuya was freed from the position of Miyuki's Guardian. He is then recognized as a Yotsuba, because Maya made the announcement that Tatsuya is her son. Operation With the goal of giving Tatsuya the ability to wield magic like everyone else, his mother, Shiba Miya and her twin sister, also his aunt, Yotsuba Maya, experimented on the six-year-old Tatsuya. Miya used the forbidden Outer-Systematic Magic 'Mental Design Interference,' forcibly altering the area in the consciousness that is responsible for strong emotions, called the limbic system, by inputting a Magic Calculation Model, to create an artificial Magician. The operation however caused Tatsuya to lose his ability to have strong emotions except for those regarding his sister, exchanged for the installation of another Magic Calculation Area, that allows him to use normal magic, albeit at a lower speed and power, which is still insufficient for him to be regarded as a 'true magician' by the Yotsuba. In Volume 16, it was revealed by Maya that the operation was in fact to modify Tatsuya so he wouldn't lose control of his emotions and go beserk and destroy the world using his magic. In order to ensure that Tatsuya had something that he was attached to, Miyuki in this case, Miya removed all his emotions except his love for Miyuki. Other Identities Taurus Silver The genius engineer who had advanced CAD software technology by ten years within one short year. Tatsuya is in fact, half of Mr. Taurus Silver - the far famed Mr Silver ''(ミスター・シルバー). Currently, Taurus Silver heads the Third Division of Four Leaves Technology. The name of ''Taurus Silver ''was used for several reasons. First, Tatsuya was not of age when he developed the Loop-Cast system that Silver is famous for. Legally, it would be impossible for Tatsuya to patent any of his inventions and developments without being of age. Second, Maya wished to keep information about Tatsuya, who is a mere Guardian under the Yotsuba, under wraps as much as possible and having his real name attached to inventions and state-of-the-art technology would have been inconvenient (as too much attention would be placed on him and by extension, Miyuki). It seems there is a plan discussed in which according to it, Tatsuya can finally use 'Shiba Tatsuya' for his inventions after graduation from First High School. Special Lieutenant Ooguro Ryuuya This is the alias that Tatsuya is using in the military, to be specific, in the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion, as an unregistered Strategic-Class Magician. Magic Limiter Miyuki, as a natural Mental Interference Magician, acts as his limiter. This stops him from showing his '''true might', making him unable to use his Strategic spell and blocking his access to his psion reserves. When the limiters are released, he is surrounded by a maelstrom of psions that would cause anyone to lurch away from him; an amount greater than his sister's and Mayumi's. The full effects of this limiter are currently unspecified and thus it's unknown if it affects his ordinary magic talent or limits his ability to use his natural magics. As for Miyuki, while she is limiting her brother, her magic territory is also sealed as half of her Magic Power is used to seal her brother's power. This causes her magic to escape her control, causing her to accidentally lower the temperature in the room whenever she is upset. Equipment Silver Horn Custom "Trident" A Specialized CAD based off the long-barreled Silver Series Silver Horn. It is inputted with most of Tatsuya's high level Decomposition magics. Tatsuya has used this CAD to cast high precision magic, decomposing needle-sized holes which target his opponents' nerves and blood vessels to incapacitate and cause severe pain. It is customized specifically to activate three consecutive magics into one Magic Sequence. In the Battalion, "Trident" is the name given to this merciless triple Decomposition magic as well as the CAD that performs this. This is Tatsuya's favored instrument. This CAD has interchangeable cartridges loaded with different types of magic. Third Eye A large caliber rifle CAD designed specifically for Tatsuya to use Strategic Level Decomposition Magic "Material Burst." It (Third Eye) does not fire a physical projectile. Thus acceleration and movement magic sequences are not needed. The rifle is connected to a satellite to allow for precision targeting. With this CAD, Tatsuya was able to hit a 50mg drop of water from 80 km away. Due to its nature as the only weapon Material Burst can be used reliably '''and '''quickly with at long distance, the key card to the CAD case is kept by Major Kazama and the CAD is maintained by the engineer Captain Sanada. Captain Sanada is also the one that keeps the voice-recognition mechanism's password: in the light novel, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity" Volume 7, Chapter 13 (a Biblical reference to a recurring sentence in the Book of Ecclesiastes); in the anime, "Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form" Episode 25 '' (a famous saying from the the Heart Sutra, one of the best known and most popular Buddhist prayers). It is kept at the Independent Magic Equipped Battalion's headquarters. Mobile Suit Bulletproof, heat resistant, shock resistant, and also resistant to biological and chemical weapons and a simple motion supplement system. The Flying Device was also attached to the belt. When coupled with the shock resistant function, it can completely nullify the recoil when firing, so he can also fire in the air. Other *He is in possession of the Magatama-Class Relic *He has also used a grenade canister, knives, guns, bikes and a car, showing his resourcefulness. *Through Kokonoe Yakumo, he has also learned how to use projectile weapons such as marbles, although it was noted that he required more training on this skill. *He owns an electric motorcycle and a bulletproof car. School Activities *Public Morals Committee - April 2095 ~ March 2096 Tatsuya became almost as famous as the Chief herself, due to his abilities. He had the highest number of incident encounters and therefore the most apprehensions among committee members. *Student Council - April 2096 ~ Present His skills are so great that he has to leave early to allow other members to carry out their duties, otherwise he would be running the Student Council alone. When he first joined the Student Council in 2095, he was in the Public Morals Committee but proceeding into the following year he was promoted to Vice President. *Nine Schools Competition - AD2095 & AD2096 He was a part of the engineering team and was lauded for winning First Place for every event he was in charge of. Tatsuya also participated in Monolith Code and was responsible for winning First Place and beating Ichijou Masaki in a head-on confrontation. *National High School Magic Theory Thesis Competition - AD2095 He was a part of the Thesis writing team, aiding Suzune. He was responsible for the calibrations of the magic techniques used during the demonstration. Academic Grades Magical abilities aside, Tatsuya could be said to be one of First High's most outstanding students coming in first place on the theory portions of the exams every single time. His average in the theory portion during his early first year was easily a dozen points higher than the second place score, which belonged to his sister Miyuki. Over the course of the series he has maintained distinctions and his grades have yet to falter, something that could be owed to his intellect and encyclopedic knowledge. List of People who knows or suspects his Identities and Secrets *Yotsuba Maya - knows he is Ooguro Ryuuya, the unregistered Japanese Strategic-Class Magician and his identity as the combat Magician "Mahesvara", member of the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion (military), and affiliated with the Yotsuba Clan. Also it is implied that she knows secrets about Tatsuya that have not yet been revealed in the series. *Hayama, as Maya's confidante, knows about him as well. *Some other members of the Yotsuba clan were mentioned to also know about Tatsuya being used not only as a tool but as a weapon. However, it has not been mentioned who these people are, and whether if the Yotsuba know if he is Silver or not. *Kudou Retsu - Knows that he is the son of Yotsuba Miya, and that he serves in the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion (military) as a Strategic Class Magician. He might know more about him than Tatsuya himself. *Shiba Miyuki - knows he is Ooguro Ryuuya, Japanese Strategic-Class Magician, part of the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion (military), the mysterious inventor Taurus Silver, and a person from the Yotsuba Clan. *Sakurai Minami - When Tatsuya mentioned that he was a Strategic-class Magician to Minami, she did not seem surprised, so it can be assumed that she was told about his secrets before being ordered to live with the Shiba siblings. *Officers of 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion knows that he is Ooguro Ryuuya, a Japanese Strategic-Class Magician, a part of the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion (military), the mysterious inventor Taurus Silver, and a person from the Yotsuba Clan. *Mibu Yuuzou - Mibu Sayaka's father; heard things about Tatsuya from Major Kazama but we don't know the extent of what he knows. *Raymond Clark affirmatively knows that he is an unregistered/classified Japanese Strategic-Class Magician with the ability to use Material Burst and that he is a part of the military. He may also know that he is a member of the Yotsuba. *Chiba Erika knows that he is from the Yotsuba Clan, a Special Lieutenant in the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion under Major Kazama's orders and that he can use the magic "Regrowth". *Saegusa Mayumi knows that he can use the magic "Regrowth," saw him using "Decomposition," knows that he is a Special Lieutenant in the military under Major Kazama and speculates that he is an Extra from the Yotsuba Clan. *Saegusa Koichi knows that he is a member of the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion and that the squad has links to the Yotsuba and suspects that he and Miyuki have some connection to the Yotsuba. *Shibata Mizuki knows that he can construct Magic Sequences without looking at the Activation Sequence (Flash Cast), able to use the magic "Regrowth" and that he is a Special Lieutenant under Major Kazama. *Saijou Leonhart speculates that he knows and can use all 16 Cardinal Codes, knows he can use the magic "Regrowth", knows that he is a Special Lieutenant in the military under Major Kazama and that he is in the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion. *Watanabe Mari, Ichihara Suzune, Chiyoda Kanon, Isori Kei, Mibu Sayaka, Kirihara Takeaki, Yoshida Mikihiko, and Mitsui Honoka knows he can use the magic "Regrowth" and knows that he is a Special Lieutenant in the military under Major Kazama. *Kitayama Shizuku knows that he is a Special Lieutenant in the military under Major Kazama. She also may know more, depending on what Raymond Clark told her about Tatsuya. *Juumonji Katsuto knows that he is a Special Lieutenant in the military under Major Kazama and has suspected/may still suspect that he is from the Ten Master Clans. *Chiba Naotsugu knows that he's a soldier in the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion with connections to Major Kazama and wields powerful magic for a high schooler. *Ichijou Masaki knows that he is a Special Lieutenant of the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion. *Nakajou Azusa firmly believes that he is Taurus Silver. *Ono Haruka suspects that he may have connections to Fujibayashi Kyouko and possibly the JSDF. *Angelina Kudou Shields speculated that he is an unregistered/classified Japanese Strategic-Class Magician and that he was part of the military, but changed her mind and decided that he was a Mental Interference Illusionist. Trivia *Shiba Tatsuya's personality, equipment, names and abilities are heavily based on the god Shiva (Mahesvara). Shiva is one of the most revered and fascinating figures in Hindu mythology; he is the god who represents everything outside the established system, described as being both God and the Devil in one and is heavily worshiped and feared. Shiva is held to be the Supreme God within Shaivism, one of the four largest sects within Hinduism. His weapon is a trident, which is also the given name to Tatsuya's ultimate weapon. *His nickname Destroyer or of Destruction was given to him by Raymond Clark, one of the Seven Sages. *Tatsuya has admittedly called several female characters beautiful in different degrees in his thoughts, though he has never shown any trace of arousal or attraction, as well as outward embarrassment, regardless of the situations or how a female character presents themselves to him. *Tatsuya's voice actor is '''Yuuichi Nakamura', the same person who had voiced Kyousuke Kousaka, the male protagonist of Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai. Many fans have found this humorous due to the fact that Shiba Miyuki's voice actress is Saori Hayami, the same person who had voiced Ayase Aragaki of the same show. Ironically, Ayase would often criticize Kyousuke due to his sis-con personality. *Tatsuya and Miyuki appear on the commercial board of a building in Accel World Episode 6. *It was mentioned in the Summer Holiday Chapter that Tatsuya's body was covered with scars all over, except for his head. *It may be a coincidence, but Tatsuya's initials are "ST", the reverse of Taurus Silver, "TS". (Note that in Japan, family names are typically said first, ex. Shiba Tatsuya) *Similarly, the writer Tsutomu Satou's initials are "TS" as well, although this too may be a coincidence. *Despite only being seventeen, many people who personally know Tatsuya assume that he is older than his actual age; Fujibayashi being one of them. The only exception is Mayumi who compared him to a child. *His speech mannerisms could be said to rival even those living in the upper class society. Notes References Category:Japan Category:Magicians Category:First High School Category:Weeds Category:Public Morals Committee Category:Student Council Category:Magic Engineering Course Category:Guardian Category:BS Magicians Category:Ancient Magic User Category:Military Category:101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion Category:Strategic-Class Magicians Category:Yotsuba Category:Ten Master Clans